Welcome to the brand new blog! Looks exactly the same as the old one, doesn’t it?[1]
I just spent the last two days porting over the backend of my blog over from Kirby (a PHP-based static CMS) to Ghost (a Node-based CMS). Both are exceptional open-source projects - but it was time for a change and so here we are.
Why?
Kirby has faithfully powered my blog from 5 whole years since 2015 - with little to no issues. I still stand by it as a very good choice for simple blogging/cms. It is lightweight, yet easy to modify and the codebase is easily one of the best I’ve every seen.
However, I found myself itching to move to something new. You of all people are probably aware that I have certainly spent more time creating new blogs and coding blogging engines than I have spent writing actual blog posts. Who am I to stand in the way of that kind of tradition?
More seriously, I wanted to port this over to technologies I’m using everyday[2] and aspire to know more thoroughly like React.
Intrinsic Rewards
Tinkering with a technology for a personal goal/project is hands down one of my favorite ways to learn. I find it easier to hit a state of flow in an environment of self-directed curiosity-driven play. My brain fills with “ooh so how does that work then” and “hmm I wonder if I can do this to make that happen”.
This is also why I find games like Breath of the Wild and Minecraft[2] so much fun. They are largely sand-box environments with an overarching high level goal - that you can achieve in whatever way you damn well please.
The Technical Doodads
Setup is quite easy but very opinionated. You install an npm package with npm install ghost-cli -g, and run ghost install and voila there you have it. I love the UX of the CLI tool - they've done a marvelous job on making that seamless and informative.
I was drawn to Ghost for its open-source-ness and how clean and snappy the final site is - but editing and redeploying the engine has proven to be a formidable challenge. I am sorely tempted to attempt a simpler clone of Ghost - that is more extension friendly. It seems like something the Ghost community has been asking for, for a while, but is yet to be implemented.
However, for now, this works just fine for me. I want to get started with other projects and circle back to this one when I have formed a habit to publish regularly.
What’s Next?
Watch this space for more writing, code and random bits and bobs. I hope to make this site a platform and plugin some other projects I’ve been working on.
Mostly I just wanted to get this up and running so it will be easier to write and publish about even tiny scripts or tidbits I learn week to week.
This is already the second post I have published in one week!
Thanks for reading, and I will see you in the next one.
—
- If you would like to do a side-by-side comparison of the front-end and marvel along with me at how exactly the same I have managed to make them, the new one is here at vidur.io and the old is still running at old.vidur.io for now. ↩
- 6-8 months go by between blog backend projects, long enough to forget basic PHP and then I find myself googling “how to pull env vars in PHP”. No bueno. ↩
- Need to scale a giant vertical cliff? Yes, you could build a ladder…or a new-fangled self-propelling red stone contraption. ↩